粘 (nián): to glue, to paste, to adhere, to stick to

粘 (nián) is a Chinese character meaning “to glue.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 米 (semantic) and 占 (phonetic). It ranks #2185 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 粘 grain. Its radical form 米 (rice) appears in many related characters such as 米 (mǐ, uncooked rice), 类 (lèi, kind), 精 (jīng, essence).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to glue
  2. to paste
  3. to adhere
  4. to stick to

Etymology & Origin

粘

pictophoneticgrain

Decomposition: ⿰米占 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Practice writing 粘 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 粘

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
粘贴verbzhān tiēto stick6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
粘乎乎nián hū hūsticky
粘性nián xìngvariant of 黏性
粘连nounnián liánto adhere
粘稠nounnián chóuviscous
不粘锅nounbù zhān guōnon-stick pan
粘皮着骨nián pí zhuó gǔsee 粘皮帶骨|粘皮带骨
粘皮带骨nián pí dài gǔ(old) (idiom) muddled
粘接zhān jiēto bond
粘船鱼zhān chuán yúshark sucker (Echeneis naucrates)
粘扣带nounzhān kòu dàivelcro
魔鬼粘mó guǐ zhān(Tw) Velcro fastener
粘聚nián jùto cohere
粘虫nián chóngarmy worm (e.g. Mythimna separata or Leucania separata etc, major cereal pests)
粘稠度nián chóu dùviscosity
粘扣nounzhān kòuvelcro
18
Total compounds
89
As first character
6
As last character
6
As middle character

粘 appears in 18 compound words: 89 as the first character, 6 as the last, and 6 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 粘 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

稠chóu
0.590602 co-occurrences
藐miǎo
0.568212 co-occurrences
贴tiē
0.550754 co-occurrences
膜mó
0.536952 co-occurrences
液yè
0.5131,294 co-occurrences
剂jì
0.490646 co-occurrences
土tǔ
0.4872,956 co-occurrences
滞zhì
0.475174 co-occurrences
胶jiāo
0.451290 co-occurrences
肠cháng
0.423104 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

粘皮带骨nián pí dài gǔHSK 6+

(old) (idiom) muddled; indecisive; plodding

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习粘字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí nián zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the art of writing characters requires repeated practice to achieve neatness.

SmzdmMar 2026

...凉油的原理......煎鸡蛋 #煎鸡蛋不粘锅做法 #铁锅 #美食教程 #铁锅不粘锅

. . . liáng yóu de yuán lǐ . . . . . . jiān jī dàn jiān jī dàn bù nián guō zuò fǎ tiě guō měi shí jiào chéng tiě guō bù nián guō

...The principle behind using cold oil......Frying eggs #How to fry eggs without sticking #Cast iron skillet #Cooking tutorial #Non-stick cast iron skillet

99 健康网Mar 2026

女生得了闭经怎么调理?宫腔粘连需做宫腔镜手术分离吗

nǚ shēng dé le bì jīng zěn má diào lǐ ? gōng qiāng nián lián xū zuò gōng qiāng jìng shǒu shù fēn lí ma

How to treat girls with amenorrhea? Does hysteroscopic surgery be needed for uterine adhesions?

99 健康网Feb 2026

宫腔内不均质回声是什么意思?和炎症或粘连有关联吗

gōng qiāng nèi bù jūn zhì huí shēng shì shén má yì sī ? hé yán zhèng huò nián lián yǒu guān lián ma

What does intrauterine heterogeneous echo mean? Is it related to inflammation or adhesions?

99 健康网Feb 2026

...到一根手指都疼是怎么回事?会不会是手术后粘连造成

. . . dào yī gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? huì bù huì shì shǒu shù hòu nián lián zào chéng

... What's going on with a finger that hurts? Could it be caused by adhesions after surgery?

It之家Feb 2026

...水材料热稳定性难题,让热咖啡、热牛奶不再粘壁

. . . shuǐ cái liào rè wěn dìng xìng nán tí , ràng rè kā fēi , rè niú nǎi bù zài nián bì

... The thermal stability problem of water materials makes hot coffee and hot milk no longer stick to the wall

Tatoeba

汤姆的鞋底粘了口香糖。

Tāngmǔ de xiédǐ zhān le kǒuxiāngtáng.

There was some chewing gum on the sole of Tom's shoe.

Tatoeba

你头发上粘着什么东西。

Nǐ tóufa shàng zhān zhe shénme dōngxi.

There's something in your hair.

Tatoeba

汤姆把它重新粘了起来。

Tāngmǔ bǎ tā chóngxīn zhān le qǐlai.

Tom glued it back together.

Tatoeba

您今天早上醒来的时候您的眼皮有没有粘在一起?

Nín jīntiān zǎoshang xǐnglái de shíhou nín de yǎnpí yǒuméiyǒu zhān zàiyīqǐ?

Were your eyelids stuck together when you woke up this morning?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 米 (grain) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced nián

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 粘 (nián) mean in Chinese?
粘 (nián) primarily means "to glue." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2185 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 粘 and 点?
粘 (nián) and 点 (diǎn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 米 vs 灬 (same 占 component).
How many strokes does 粘 have?
粘 is written with 11 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 粘?
The radical associated with 粘 is 米 (rice). This radical appears in many characters related to rice.
What are the components of 粘?
粘 is composed of: 米 (semantic), 占 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰米占 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 粘?
Common words with 粘 include: 粘乎乎 (nián hū hū, "sticky"); 粘性 (nián xìng, "variant of 黏性"); 粘贴 (zhān tiē, "to stick"); 粘连 (nián lián, "to adhere"); 粘稠 (nián chóu, "viscous"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 粘 (nián)?
Several characters share the pronunciation nián: 黏 (sticky), 年 (year), 念 (to read, to think of). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 粘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 粘 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 粘 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.